Craft of the Dyer

Cones processed with vinegar alone give pinkish-reds.

As is the case with apple, cherry, pear, and peach, the leaves and bark of the plum yield excellent dyes (Prunus is the genus for plum, peach, cherry, almond, and many other fruits. Because there is little chance of confusion it is sufficient to call a plum ‘plum’ and a peach ‘peach.’). The fruit may also be used, especially if it is diseased or otherwise inedible. Dyers who live in areas where plum grows wild (P. nigra, Canada plum; and P. americana, wild plum) may wish to try these fruits for dyes. Leechman gives a recipe for the bark of P. nigra, and quotes the British astrologer and physician, Culpeper, who wrote that all plums are under Venus and, like women, some are better than others (p 51).

dyeing will give deeper, stronger colours.
Colours obtained: blooms, mixed colours, no leaves: green (baking soda); light green (blue vitriol); tan (iron); bright green (tin, alum); grey (chrome, iron). Blooms, mixed colours, with leaves: olive-green (iron); strong medium grey (alum, iron); khaki to brown (chrome); greenish-grey (blue vitriol). No fresh blooms were tested

Processing: many fungi are extremely tough; however, they must be chopped up to release their pigment in the dyebath. If the bracket is extremely hard, soak it in water to cover for one to three days, or until you can easily dent the surface with your nail. Most bracket or shelf fungi are light in weight, so you may have to put a brick on top of them. If you use a rock to weigh the fungi down, be aware that the mineral content of that rock in the water may affect the colour of the resulting dyebath. If the fungi does not soften after it is soaked, try pouring boiling water over it, or heat it up in the dyepot whole, just as it is. Let it simmer for an hour, cool it, and then try to cut it up. Save this water as the dyebath, and add the cut-up fungi to it.
Colours obtained: yellow, beige, tan, greyish-yellow, light brown, gold – most fungi give these shades. I obtained a dark brown from Ganoderma which was chopped up and soaked out for two weeks. The smell was unpleasant, but the fibre dyed an interesting shade. However, the colour faded after several weeks’ exposure to light. All types of fungi are interesting to work with and warrant further investigation as potential dyestuffs

Colours obtained: a warm tan with vinegar (using amount of coffee and fibre as specified above); a medium brown with chrome; grey-tan with iron. Using twice as

Clay

Common red clay, and indeed, any other type of earth can be used as both a dye and a mordant (see pp 27, 41). Make up the following solution and then immerse the wetted fibre in it:
2 gallons of water worked into 2 gallons of clay or 9 litres of water worked into 9 litres of clay

For the purpose of this book, a weed is simply any plant growing where one does not wish it. A wildflower differs from a weed only in that it has a bloom we find attractive. ‘Weed’ applies to those wild plants having no conspicuous bloom or those we consider a nuisance.

The sample book loses its significance if it becomes a pretty thing one carries around to show off. It should be a working reference describing what you are doing with plant dyes

Dyeing cannot be reduced to measurements alone. It is also process.

Dyeing in Cape Breton is not the same as dyeing in New Zealand or California, because dyestuffs are subject to so many influencing factors which affect the colours they give. Each plant is unique. An understanding of this uniqueness will enable the dyer to feel satisfied no matter what colour does, or does not, materialize in the dyepot. Whatever the shade may be, it is special, and one of a kind. It is short-sighted for beginning or even experienced dyers to measure their colours by the results printed in a reference written thousands of miles away. The challenge of dyeing is to discover new colours of one’s own, using a plant that perhaps has been overlooked by others